Alex O’Loughlin, 33, left his native Sydney a few years back to headline the television series “Moonlight,” and the later medical drama, “Three Rivers.” This month, O’Loughlin is starring opposite Jennifer Lopez in the romantic comedy “The Back-Up Plan.”

O’Loughlin stopped by “The Early Show” Thursday to discuss the film and what it was like to work with Lopez. O’Loughlin plays Lopez’s new lover, Stan, who meets the love of his life shortly after she has decided to take pregnancy into her own hands.

“Early Show” co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez wanted to know if O’Loughlin was nervous working with such a high-profile celebrity while taking on his first major movie role.

Maggie: You’ve seen Alex O’Loughlin on TV in “The Shield”, “Moonlight”, now he’s on the big screen with Jennifer Lopez in the new romantic comedy “The Back-Up Plan”. He plays a man whose girlfriend has a secret, she got pregnant before they even met.

[They show a clip from the first date in The Back-Up Plan]

Maggie: [Comments on the clip] Not the first kiss they were hoping for Alex O”Loughlin. Good morning Alex.

Alex: Morning.

Maggie: Welcome back.

Alex: Thank you.

Maggie: You’re still …. I have to tell you, he’s still such a nice guy, even though he’s in this big blockbuster now with Jennifer Lopez.

Alex: Yeah, I’m trying to let LA … Hollywood change me. It is not happening as fast as I would like.

Maggie: But your life have changed a lot since we last spoke. You get this call to be in this movie with Jennifer Lopez, and you have to go to her house to meet with her and Marc Anthony.

Alex: True.

Maggie Were you nervous?

Alex:I was sort of more curious than nervous, I think. You know, it’s like she’s so famous, and we all know who she is. But, it was great. It was just like meeting anybody, you know.

Maggie: Were you more worried about impressing her or him?

Alex: Oh him, for sure, you know.

Maggie: You’ve got to make a good impression on the husband.

Alex: It was funny, I came in you know, and I was talking to Jennifer and Marc was … Marc was doing something with the kids. And he sort of popped in after I’d been there for a little while. And I was like, ‘Hey!’ And what ended up being … what was supposed to be a meeting with Jennifer and I …. I ended up sort of hanging with Marc.

Maggie: Oh yeah.

Alex: And we were walking around the house showing me stuff you know, talking guy stuff.

Maggie: So he was more than okay with signing off on you working with his wife?

Alex: Well yeah, evidently. He’s a great guy.

In addition to the pre-premiere jitters, “The Back-Up Plan” may force O’Loughlin to face one of his biggest fears: inadvertently acquiring fame.

Maggie: Now that you’re in this movie, I have to tell you that one of your biggest fears could be realized.

Alex: What’s that?

Maggie: You said once, ‘Losing my anonymity in this world, I think is something that I find terrifying.’

Alex: Yeah maybe. I don’t know. I think …… When did I say that?

Maggie: I don’t know. In a magazine. A long time ago.

Alex: It is true. It is true. I can’t remember the interview. It is true. I think that a lot of actors are private people, you know. I think a lot of actors really, you know, don’t live the life that the rest of the world thinks we would live. I don’t know, we’ll see what happens.

Maggie: Are you okay with not being anonymous anymore?

Alex: Not really. I might have to move to Hawaii or something, you know. [Laughing]

Maggie: Ah ….. Speaking off, you are in the CBS pilot for Hawaii Five-0, which we will talk about. But let’s go back to this movie. You spend a lot of time filming with a woman who looked like this [Maggie showing her own pregnant tummy]

Alex: Yeah, I know. Congratulations.

Maggie: Except you know, mine is real. But Jennifer Lopez’s character pregnant. She has been artificially inseminated the day that she meets you. And the you two wind up becoming a couple.

Alex: Yeah, thats right. I mean these two ….. It’s a story about two people whose lives kind of collide, you know. And their …. and they fall in love, and they don’t realize what’s happened. And it’s that thing about …. you know, you can’t control when you fall in love. We think, you know…. we all have these careers, and we have these lives and stuff, and we think we want to get everything in place and make sure we’re ready for love, and we’re ready for all that stuff. But sometimes you just can’t control it. So yeah, then he …… when he comes to the realization, my character Stan, that, ‘Wow, I love this girl. I really want to …. I’m ready for it,‘

Maggie: Yeah.

Alex: She drops the baby bomb on him.

Maggie: And a great great story unfolds which everybody should go and see.

Rodriguez also asked O’Loughlin about his work on CBS’ pilot for “Hawaii Five-O.” He plays Steve McGarrett in the remake of the classic television show, which aired from 1968 to 1980.

Maggie: I want to ask you before you go, about this Hawaii Five-0 pilot on CBS. Can you tell us anything about it?

Alex: It’s all pretty hush-hush, you know. They still haven’t …. there’s still not an official pick-up in a nutshell. We finished …. I think it’s the biggest pilot CBShas ever done. And it’s …. I’m pretty excited about it.

“Losing my anonymity in this world I think is something that I find terrifying, I am a very private person. I have my life and I have my family, which mean the world to me.”

– Alex (O’Lachlan) O’Loughlin

Australia Associated Press (General News) – Sydney

16 June 2005

(This interview in 2005, was done during the promotion of Oyster Farmer)

BUT remember he also said:

I think it’s ignorant if you’re going to pursue a career in acting to allow yourself to get any sort of celebrity status and then be angry about it. I completely accept the loss of anonymity as part of success in this career I’ve chosen. But it doesn’t change the fact that I can get agoraphobic in crowds and that I spin out sometimes when I get too much attention, or that I get anxious, or that I’m sensitive.

4 responses to “Alex O’Loughlin on The Early Show with Maggie Rodriguez, April 2010”

I think he’s played the ” public image vs private man” game very well. He gives a lot to his fans but still keeps his private life fairly private. (Wedding for example). Hawaii has helped of course, it may not have been so achievable in L.A.

Alex has done very well at balancing his public and private life. He gives us just enough that we feel we know him even though we don’t really know him.
He saves that part of himself for his family and close trusted friends. The part he shares with us “Joe Public” is more then most deserve or get on a regular basis. We are lucky that Alex loves us fans as much as he dose and is willing to share little bits of himself beyond the characters he plays. ♥